#17 green drainage project recap

We wrapped up our drainage project on #17 green last week. Things went as planned and on schedule.

You can read about the plan we executed in last week's blog. Basically, we have a very poorly draining, small section of #17 green. Over the last several years as the intensity and volume of rainstorms have increased, the condition of the turf has declined. We decided it was time to insert drainage into this area.

Here are pictures outlining the process:

Removal of grass from green.

Using trencher to cut into green.

Completed trench being cleaned out.

More trench cleaning.

The original gravel layer of the green. It
was buried over 17 inches deep.

You can see our aerification channels
extending down into the old
native soil. (White vertical lines)

Trench with pipe and gravel complete.

This shows the gravel base, pipe, more
gravel, and the sand over top.

Ready for sod to be replaced on trench.

A partially completed trench.

Replacing sod on trench.

Partially repaired trench sod.

Continuing to replace trench sod.

Trench leading to drain behind green.

Working on trench to existing drain.

Replacing and tamping soil on trench
that leads to drain in rough.

Sod replaced on trench in rough.

Sod complete on rough trench

Finished

Finished

Once we get the sod level on the green and consistent with the rest of the putting surface, the right side of #17 green will be usable like any other area. 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the cart path.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

#17 green drainage project

The drainage project on #17 green starts today. We will be inserting two short drain lines into the green to alleviate the severe water retention problem on the right side of the green.

A shot of water sitting on the green
after a storm

The far-right side of #17 green has 4 small pockets that are very low elevation compared to the remainder of the green. These spots also perform very poorly internally draining water after nearly all rainstorms. Many of you have probably seen standing water on this green after storms. And most of you have likely seen our very large fan out blowing directly on this side of the green. We have struggled, especially in the last two years with keeping grass alive in these specific spots. The soil is waterlogged, and the roots of the grass plants cannot get enough oxygen. The result is turf death.

An example of the damage caused
by excessive soil moisture in
the summer

We have attempted to raise the profile of these low spots by adding additional sand every time that we topdress, but the deficit in height is too great to make up in this way. We have also attempted additional aeration of these areas to allow water to infiltrate and percolate better through the soil profile. But again, we were not able to improve the movement of water significantly enough. We are left with adding internal drainage to the green as the only other viable solution.

We will install 2 drain lines, one each running through the worst areas of the green. The two lines will meet in the rough behind the green, reduce to one line and then run to an existing drain. We will trench into the green, place pipe in the bottom, cover with gravel and then sand, and then replace the existing sod. Though we will be deliberate and especially cautious because we are working on a green, the process is not complicated and it is not a large scale project. While we will lose time and labor to maintain the rest of the course as we work on the project, we do not expect it to take longer than a week.

A rough drawing of how the drain lines will be cut into the green

Please be aware that we will be working during play and that the right side of #17 green will be ground under repair throughout the duration of the project.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the cart path.

 

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Early order

Every year around this time we have a busy tournament schedule, busy work schedule, but we are also busy planning for the next season.

We don’t wait to think about what we could do different until this time of year. When something positive or negative happens, when we have a new idea, or just want to try something, we make a note immediately. When we can, we make changes during the current season. However, once the heat of the summer has subsided, from September forward, provides a great time for consolidating all those thoughts and laying out a sketch of how we want to tackle the next season. This includes planning our chemical program.

September is our start to the budget season. Supplies, labor, projects, and chemical budgets are all projected. Lucky for us, October is also the month that our chemical and fertilizer suppliers have designated as the time for early orders. We order a vast majority of our chemical and fertilizer needs for the next year in bulk during October. The companies make it well worth our time to place our orders in October, providing anywhere from 4-16% rebates per company depending on which items are selected and quantities purchased. Often, products are also cheaper than there in-season price at this time too.

Like building a budget of any kind, we work methodically through scenarios for the upcoming season. We know exactly what we used in the current year, we have a general idea about what the weather will be like at certain times (May probably rainy, July will be hot, etc.), and we know what changes we want to make.

Where this planning is especially pertinent is with our chemical program. We project nearly every single application we will make for the entire upcoming season, right now. We select chemicals that will provide protection against the diseases we know we will have at various points during the year. We know precisely the size of the areas that we will be spraying and can thus calculate the total volume per application. Then, taking the number of applications we make to a certain location and how much of a certain product is used in each application, we can calculate the total volume of each product for the season. Doing this for every product that we will use gives us our budget. Even better, this also shows us what we need to order early.

We do leave room in the budget for unexpected situations. Sometimes a disease is abundant in a season and we may need more of a specific chemical. So, we don’t spend all our allotted money right now. But making our purchases now is convenient, cost-effective, and takes a lot of the guess work out of the next year.

Having a framework for the next year is helpful to anyone who needs to create a budget. The same is true for the Grounds department. We are also able to save a significant amount of money by using that framework to quantify our chemical needs and order early.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the cart path.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Tournaments, leaves, and frost

We are nearing the end of summer officially, though there are a couple of 90-degree days in the forecast still. We are looking forward to a busy upcoming golf schedule and the start of leaf cleanup, greatly reduced Bermuda grass maintenance, and frost days.

We continue to maintain the course at a high level for the September tournament schedule. The Stroke Play Championship wrapped up this past weekend and Men’s Member Guest comes soon. As soon as we get past that, we will be decreasing the maintenance of the Bermuda grass. Although we make Spring Dead Spot chemical treatments and specific fertilizer applications, the best program for the Bermuda grass is to stop beating it up. As strange as it is to think about, because it is so routine, mowing is damaging to turf grass. The plants do become accustomed to the practice, but the overall wear and tear adds up. Just the weight of the machines is a stress factor. This is true for every type of grass, but we work to protect the Bermuda grass more so than the other species come fall. Therefore, we raise the mowing height, drastically reduce the frequency of mowing, and let the Bermuda grass plant naturally prepare for winter. This also helps us redirect our labor to leaves.

Leaf cleanup hasn’t truly started, though we have had the blowers out a few times now; the worst is still to come. Working to stay on top of the leaves is one of the most trying times of the year. The sheer volume, the wind alternately working with and against us, and attempting to stay out of the way of golfers all makes for a long fall.

Lastly, here is an early-bird warning on frost delays: they are coming! We will post a more in-depth piece about frost later. But just as the grass must start preparing early for cold temperatures, golfers should start preparing early for frost delays. There may not be frost at your house, there may not be frost on the grass near the Proshop, but if there is frost on the golf course that will be damaged by play, we will stall the first tee times.

Early morning on the course looking back down #10 and
across to #1. No frost yet!

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the cart path.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org

Green surround rough

We continue to battle the rough surrounding the greens. We are in a better position this year than years’ past, but we still have a long way to go.

We have written before about the deficiencies in the irrigation system. There are also some issues with the irrigation around the greens. The sprinklers water in arcs, aimed away from the greens. The specific rough sprinklers are adjustable, to keep extra, unwanted water from hitting the greens. However, there is an inherent problem with the entire setup: the edges of the arc are straight lines that do not wrap around the curves of the greens. What we are left with is some small and some large triangles of grass that receive no irrigation.

A crude representation of #7 green. The blue
lines represent the straight lines at the
end of the sprinkler arc. The red shows where
the water does not hit. We hand water the red areas.

To combat this, we instituted a hand watering program. This year we spent more time hand watering than we have in any other year. By using a hose and watering the first 10 feet of rough surrounding the green, we saw a definite improvement. However, we are unable to water on every single “irrigation day” (days without rain and separated from previous rainstorm). We watered 2-3 days per week as needed throughout the season and it helped improve the rough, but it was still short of ideal. We don’t currently have the man-power to water every single day required. The rough held up much longer but by the end of the long summer, it is beginning to decline again. We will continue the hand watering effort and look for creative ways to accomplish the watering while still completing all other necessary tasks.

We also will be seeding the rough again this year. Seeding is another of our programs that has helped conditions. We use tall fescue seed which is heat and drought tolerant. As we incorporate more tall fescue, the percentage of other, weaker grasses is lowered. As the weaker grasses are eliminated, more healthy grass remains through the season.

Lastly, we think there may be a previously undetected or newly arrived insect hurting the rough as well. The Annual Bluegrass weevil is a very destructive pest on our collars and sometimes greens. It has become one of the most devastating pests in the entire Mid-Atlantic and East Coast. It is not supposed to eat the roots of taller grass like rough. Our greens are almost entirely Poa annua, or Annual bluegrass, which it loves and finds readily. We also have annual bluegrass in the rough, which it may be using as a supplement. We are not finished testing this theory yet, and may not find definitive proof this season, however we have reason to believe this pest may be doing just enough feeding to aid in the collapse of some of the turf around the greens. Thus, we will be making a few adjustments to our pesticide program for next season as well as increasing our monitoring in the rough.

We are not making excuses, nor do we think the problem is solved. We continue to tweak our programs and adjust based on past observations and current conditions. We are working on the issues regarding the rough around the greens in order to make as good as it should be.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the path

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Bunker etiquette

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org